Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Forget Me (Revamped) ❯ "I Never Forgot" ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

“I Never Forgot”

 

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or anyone else who appears in the television show. Everyone else is mine, and you can't use them because then Dan Green will have to hurt you.

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“It's…” Robin starts.

 

Raven's eyes widen at the next word.

 

“Trigon.”

 

They examine the expression on her face. Raven is petrified. She mouths the word “How,” yet nothing but air comes out.

 

“He's not alive, but… Slade…” Beast Boy says, pointing to the monitor showing a map of Jump city. One solitary block is highlighted in flashing red, shining brightly in their eyes.

 

“You may not want to look…” Cyborg tells her, trying to look away from the screen. Raven's eyes wander down, below the map to a video feed of what is going on.

 

Blood. Lots of blood. Bodies lay sprawled across the ground. Heads lie disembodied on the pavement, as bodies limply lie there, impaled on streetlights and fire hydrants. Embers fall from the burning buildings around, as charred carcasses—once human, and now unidentifiable—lie beneath the horror, lucky since their death wasn't as gruesome. Cars lie in the street, totaled from what looks like a kick to the engine. Blood trickles down the broken glass and onto the ground below, mixing with gasoline and oil that will soon ignite. Women, men, even children—none were spared from the gore, as intestine line the streets like streamers. A parade—a circus of murder and death line the streets, as what seems to be Slade, covered in the gore surrounding him, stands there, looking up at the camera, his elbows bobbing up and down, as if he were hysterically laughing.

 

“Hoe could Slade do this to such innocent people!” Starfire wails, tears flowing from her eyes like waterfalls. Each tear for one of the poor defenseless souls stamped out.

 

“Slade never cared about anyone… but even I thought he wouldn't stoop so low…” Robin clenches his fists as the words leave his mouth.

 

“We need to stop this… this monster…” Beast Boy grinds his teeth, ready to transform into a grotesque beast in order to stop Slade.

“Whatever we do, we have to stop him.” Raven puts her hood up, and turns.

 

“Well, you're not coming,” Cyborg says, “You need to rest.”

 

“I'm fine.”

 

“Are you sure? You almost fell off the tower!” Beast Boy says.

 

“I'm going,” Raven snarls, pulling her hood up, “And that's final.”

 

“Well if you think you're going to be fine, it's okay.” Robin turns to everyone. “Titans… GO!” Robin screams, running out followed by Cyborg and Beast Boy.

 

Starfire stays behind. “Starfire, let's go.” Raven puts her hand on her friend's shoulder. Starfire smiles, wiping the tears from her eyes.

 

“Let us save them,” Starfire smiles.

 

Cyborg leaps into the T-Car, buckling his seatbelt and revving the engine. Robin lines up with him, riding his motorcycle. Their eyes meet and they nod, as the garage door opens, revealing a bridge that will take them to the mainland of the city. They let loose, as they go racing down the bridge, ready to take Slade.

 

“I thought Slade said he works alone… Why's he with Trigon again?” Beast Boy asks, and Starfire shrugs. Beast Boy transforms into a bird and takes off beside Starfire.

 

Raven stops, only an inch over the ground. She sees someone above them… someone on the roof. He is illuminated by the moon behind him as the freshly parted clouds fly in their on directions. The man seems to be watching her watch him. She opens her mouth to yell, but he limply falls, freefalling down the tower.

 

“HEY!” She screams, running to catch him. He suddenly hits the water, hidden by a large, pointy rock and makes a large splash. Raven leads herself to the rock, and looks down. The water is still; untouched. Her image is reflected back to her, and she puts her hand out to touch her own face. Instead she scrambles it, hitting the water and falling in up to her elbow. There was nothing.

 

“Raven,” Beast Boy's voice breaks her silence, and makes her jump. She turns to him, “Aren't you coming?”

 

“Did you see it?”

 

“Yeah. I saw you walk over here for no reason and I heard a splash, so I came to see what was happening.”

 

“But… there was… I couldn't be losing it… but you heard it! You heard the splash! He jumped in, but there wasn't anything in the wa-“

 

“Raven… you fell in the water. That's the splash I heard.” She looks at her sleeve, soaked up to her elbow. “Come on, they're probably there by now,” He turns into a hawk and takes off, leaving Raven there.

 

Raven groans. She knows there was something there, and everyone just thinks she's going insane.

 

“Maybe I am just seeing things…” Raven closes her eyes, and flies off, catching up with Beast Boy. She notices a post-it on his back, and peels it off, letting it fall into the water.

 

As she leaves sight of the tower, the man steps out to where she was standing and looks into the water, swirling his reflection with his hand. “To think that Beast Boy didn't realize I hit him on the back,” he laughs, picking up the post-it that floated to him.

 

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“What took you?!” Robin yells to Raven and Beast Boy, as they float above him. Beast Boy looks at Raven, who glares at him sharply. He looks back to where he's a flying; beads of sweat falling down his beak.

 

“Nothing, we were just… thinking,” Raven lies, looking at her green friend, who appears to be lost in looking to his side.

 

“What is it?” she asks, putting her hand on his head.

 

`I just… I saw… Never mind.' He tells her telepathically.

 

Beast boy looks back, and he's gone. He could have sworn he saw a man leaping from building to building in a dark gray cloak. He remains silent, keeping his attention to where they are headed.

 

The smell of burnt flesh tells them that they have arrived, as they see the roofs burning. Slade still stands in this block. He has apparently found a new victim, and proceeds to impale her with her own severed limbs, even after her heart has stopped. He is suddenly aware of his visitors, and merely chuckles, not taking his eyes off of the corpse below.

 

“It's been a long time, hasn't it, Titans? A month? A year? Millennium? Far too long for my tastes anyway,” Slade says. The line sounds familiar, “I was beginning to think I'd never see your smiling faces again…”

 

“It's been two weeks… Don't you remember?” Beast Boy says, answering the rhetorical question.

 

“Slade… you will… you will never get away with this… this… murder!” Robin screams, “I thought you couldn't become more disgusting, but you've proved me wrong yet again.”

 

The Mark of Skath appears on Slade's forehead, “That's precious Robin, but I didn't come back for you…” He gathers fire in his hands, and sends a blast toward our hero. Suddenly, Raven creates a shield in front of him, detouring the fire to an already engulfed building.

 

“Ever have one of those days where you're just happy to be—“ Slade begins, but he is grabbed by Cyborg from behind.

 

“Alive? You've said this… all of it before!” He asks, as he blasts Slade through the chest. The beam goes through, but nothing happens. The wound heals instantly, “Whoa!”

 

“Whoa? That's it? No cleaver comment? I was—“

 

“Looking forward to that?” Robin kicks him in the face, knocking him back. “Tell me something, why are you only repeating what you said when you showed up two years ago?”

 

“That's precious Robin, but I didn't come back for you…” Slade repeats, looking at Raven, “Hello birthday girl.”

 

“ANSWER US!” Starfire screams, kneeing him in the jaw. His skull cracks slightly, and he lands backward.

 

“Why have you returned like this… and how?” Raven asks, confused.

 

“I have a message for you…”

 

“No you don't!” Cyborg screams, grabbing him in a strangle hold, “RUN RAVEN!” Suddenly Slade tears his left arm off, along with a chunk of his torso.

 

“Cy!” Beast Boy screams. Slade remains silent, looking at Beast Boy as he charges at him. He transforms into a T-rex and head-butts him. Slade holds him back with only his foot. Starfire beings to throw star-bolts at him, as Cyborg manages to stand. Blood and oil trickle down Cyborg's armor as he stands to his feet and charges his sonic cannon.

 

Suddenly Robin turns the corner on his motorcycle. The three of them abandon Slade, as Robin leaps off of it. Slade is slammed into a brick wall, and the motorcycle explodes. Raven just stares in awe, trying to collect her thoughts.

 

“Are we victorious?” Starfire asks, as a car hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious.

 

“Shit!” Beast Boy screams, as Slade stands up. His mask is missing, and half of his torso has been torn off.

 

“W-who are you?” Robin asks.

 

The man has no face. He only has one eye on the left side of his head. In a demonic voice the man begins to speak, “I am Trigon's memory of Slade. I was created merely to serve. My master already failed hiring a true person, so I was created to resurrect him. In ord-d-der to keep the illusion of Slade, I may only speak the words he has already spoken when under my master's command. I shall not stop until killed…”

 

Suddenly his wounds heal, and Slade's faceplate regenerates over his head. He claps, and pillars of fire burst from the ground, knocking Beast Boy and Robin out.

 

“You can't run away from who you are,” the doppelganger states to Raven in Slade's voice. Suddenly the demon's voice dominates, “Now, it is just you and I.”

 

“Not for long!” Raven's eyes charge with power, “Azarath Metrion Zinthi!!” Energy bursts from her eyes and mouth, and eventually ever orifice begins to pour gray energy. The blast hits the demon, and withers it away to a skeleton, before it regenerates, “N-NO! WRONG,” She coughs blood into the blast releasing from her mouth, “SPELL!!!” She screams, as the pain inside feels like a million explosions all at once. She feels her blood become acidic and start to eat away at hr own arteries, and her lungs feel as if they have been stabbed. Suddenly the energy stops, leaving her vomiting her own blood, which burns her tongue as it exits.

 

“None of Slade's memory contains that spell…” The demon's head seals cleanly, as the mask covers his lack of a face, his voice sounds like a deep growl, “You very well could have destroyed me, but at what cost? You can't control it enough to just destroy the core of my artificial brain, I mean, just look at you!” He points to the blood beneath her feet.

 

“No one…” She coughs, as his feet appear beneath her head. Blood drips on the toes of his boots, “I'm lucky… it usually kills the user…but…”

 

“But?”

 

“AZARATH METREON ZINTHI!” A voice in the distance screams, grabbing the demon in a gray blanket of magic. Next, millions of hands made from the same magic burst from the ground, each grabbing a piece of the demon.

 

“…There was one…” Raven coughs. Starfire gains consciousness, along with Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin. They all stare at Raven, and then the man behind her, on the rooftops.

 

“Well, How could you harm such a beautiful girl?” The man asks in a handsome voice, “It seems you're nothing like the real Slade. He may have been filth, but he had morals.”

 

“Who are you? Slade has no memory of you.”

 

“Then you're in quite a pickle,” The man smiles.

 

“Show yourself,” the demon demands.

 

The man leaps off of the building, walking forward. He picks Raven up, and smiles. “Hey you,” he says, as he helps her to her feet.

 

“H-hey…” Raven says, staring into his eye. One of his eyes had no white, but instead is black with a white pigment.

 

“Thank you for telling Raven how to kill you,” He smiles, “I would never have guessed that you have a core inside your brain that needs to be smashed…Honey you may want to step back, this will be messy,” Raven looks up at him as he says this, and he smiles. She nods, and runs behind them. The man snaps his fingers and turns.

 

Each hand begins to rip at the demon, tearing each part of him away, including the bone. He screams until his lungs are torn away with his vocal chords, which are thrown across the area. Blood splatters everywhere as a blue gem flies from where his brain used to stand. The gem lands in the man's hands, and he crushes it. He continues walking until he is with the Titans, who have now gathered in the street to watch.

 

“Dead,” The man says, sternly. He smiles at Raven, who is now in front of the Titans.

 

She chokes on the words, and eventually they leave her lips, “…Crow?”

 

“You remember me?” he asks, surprised. She latches onto him, and begins to cry. Behind her lights go out as her powers go wild with emotion.

 

“I never forgot,” she whispers into his heart.